Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
For those looking at the cat whiskers blog--for the back to back games in Belfast, between 1000 to 200o fans have made the trip yearly. It is one of the biggest road trips Devils fans go on
Great Britain: EIHL 2020-2021
- Thread starter Theokritos
- Start date
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
One of the things that needs to be addressed in the Elite league is the import rule and a stricter enforcing of it. Liam Stewart, the son of some burned out rock star, plays in the NIHL and he has been very out spoken as to the NIHL is the true british league (yes--there are more than one league here in the UK)
I forgot about Glasgow, that's my mistake.
People like to point out that Cardiff have a good deal and only cause they fill their arena - but isn't that the point? It's beneficial to them having a good deal and would be to many other teams in the UK? Imagine if Sheffield or Nottingham had better deals and were operating with full arenas on top of it? It would only mean more stability for the clubs.
Fife, ok their arena is a decent size for the league but they operated last season at 41% capacity so there are clearly issues they need to sort out there.
This is my view, the NIHL is the true level of British ice hockey and the true level of a British player. The UK doesn't have enough rinks and not enough access to the ones it does have, it doesn't have the coaching knowledge either to make it any better. The EIHA (gov body) should spend some of it's money on importing coaches to better develop the game if they care so much about it.
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
Point of order with context
I am a cardiff Devil fan
As someone who has gone to 100+ Devils games
My question is--how loyal are other Elite league fans to their team?
I have attended games in EVERY Elite league arena over the past 4 years
How often have you attended games in your home arena when they played the devils?
Devil fans love to travel to support the team
I have been in arenas where there are more Devils fans than home fans
From purely looking at the numbers I'd say in general most EIHL fans are not very loyal. The team that was most local to me, well if they were winning people came, if not you only had the handful of hardcore fans and the away travelling fans. But I gave up on the EIHL (as in, supporting it with my own time and money) a few seasons ago because of bad experiences with my previous local team!
Theokritos
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Theokritos
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Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
It will be interesting to see what happens this fall if fans are allowed back in the stands. I have been on a few zoom calls with fans of a few teams and while teams like Belfast, Cardiff, Nottingham, Sheffield and Glasgow should be okay but fans of teams like Manchester, Coventry and Guildford. The one team that most are concerned about is the Guildford Flames. They have always been close to falling down and owners have never made money.
Theokritos
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Theokritos
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Four teams are involved: Coventry Blaze, Nottingham Panthers, Sheffield Steelers and Manchester Storm.
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
there is slightly more info into why they are doing it. Team GB needs to play in the worlds or they would be replaced by the French. So, this was part of the solution they came up with. There is no word on if there will be relegation in the worlds, so Team GB may be up for the games in Finland next year as well
Theokritos
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Kiev the Great
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For anyone interested. The 30 game mini-season finished today with the Nottingham Panthers sweeping the Sheffield Steelers in the best of 3 final.
Steelers were favourites from the start and stormed through the group games with a red hot offense to justify the predictions. They averaged 5 goals a game during those 12 games and unsurprisingly, Steelers topped the table in the "regular season" and secured first seed, followed by Coventry Blaze, Nottingham Panthers and Manchester Storm. Panthers started the tournament with a big bang, trading up to first overall and drafting GB starting netminder Ben Bowns to go alongside his Team GB backup Jackson Whistle which raised a lot of eyebrows by securing the 2 best homegrown goalies and allowing an extra import skater. The start to their play was anything but red hot though. They won only 1 of their first 5 games, but would improve as the tournament progressed and would finish with 5 wins from the last 7. They'd also end up with the best defensive record and the leading goalie, but not the 1st overall Ben Bowns that would have been expected pre tournament. It was instead Jackson Whistle and off the back of this earned himself the starting role for the playoffs.
The decision to drop Bowns raised eyebrows, but paid off as the Panthers blanked the Blaze in the first leg which Panthers won 2-0 (first shutout for any goalie in the tournament) and he started again the next night an despite conceding a freak goal, Panthers cruised to a 4-1 win on the night an 6-1 on aggregate to setup a final series against the Steelers. Perhaps the biggest eye opener to the Panthers intentions was Coventry forward Tristin Keck. He scored in 11 straight before the playoffs, picking up 15 goals and 6 assists, but was squeezed out of the game by Panthers, failing to register a point in the semis. The Steelers were boosted coming into the playoffs as their first choice netminder came back for the playoffs having missed all but the first 10 minutes of the regular games through injury. It was again the offense that shined, edging a tight first leg vs Manchester 5-4 before blowing the Storm away with an 8-3 second leg win to finish 13-7 on aggregate.
Panthers vs Blaze
Leg 1:
Leg 2:
Steelers vs Storm
Leg 1:
Leg 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLrwapoBB7Y
In a first for UK Ice Hockey (AFAIK), this set up the first ever best of series for a championship. It was a 3 game series with matches scheduled for Saturday, Sunday & (potentially) Monday. The best offense vs the best defence, something had to give. Game 1 saw Whistle keep his starting role and also saw the return of Liam Kirk who was rest for the semi finals against Manchester. Steelers would open their account with a PP goal just 10 seconds before the end of the first period. 2nd Period would see the game to and fro from both sides to end up 3-3 going into the 3rd. A Panthers PP goal and then an empty netter would mean the game finished 5-3 and was definitely won by the defence who scored 4 of the 5 goals for Panthers. Setting up a potential decider just 24 hours later.
Game 1 Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW9tEXrhpyA
Game 2 would see another brave decision by Panthers, they'd rest Whistle and give Bowns the start. Whistle would want 2 of the goals from game 1 back, but looked solid throughout for the rest of the game. However it would pay off for Panthers. They's take an early lead within 3 minutes, picking off a poor clearance to setup a breakaway. They'd extend there lead with a PP goal in the 2nd, but gave away a penalty with only 10 seconds left in the 2nd. The Steelers would use the remaining time to full effect, scoring just as the penalty expired to give them a glimmer of hope. However a quick shot after an offensive zone win would restore Panthers 2 goal lead. There were nervous moments as the Panthers gave away a 2+2 for high sticks with 6 minute left and Steelers converted on the first of these, but with 2:04 left, the Panthers would restore the 2 goal lead followed by an empty netter at 59:20 to secure the win.
Game 2 Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC6XtwKtNA4
Perhaps there is some merit to the adage, "defence wins games, offense wins championships". Similar to Keck, Tanner Eberle was the tournament's top point scorer, registering a ridiculous 15 goals and 12 assists in the previous 14 games, but just like Keck he would be squeezed and fail to register any points in the final.
EIHL Youtube has highlights of all games (final Game 2 coming soon)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLpH6zwxhL_KXlt5AkgjFTw
Steelers were favourites from the start and stormed through the group games with a red hot offense to justify the predictions. They averaged 5 goals a game during those 12 games and unsurprisingly, Steelers topped the table in the "regular season" and secured first seed, followed by Coventry Blaze, Nottingham Panthers and Manchester Storm. Panthers started the tournament with a big bang, trading up to first overall and drafting GB starting netminder Ben Bowns to go alongside his Team GB backup Jackson Whistle which raised a lot of eyebrows by securing the 2 best homegrown goalies and allowing an extra import skater. The start to their play was anything but red hot though. They won only 1 of their first 5 games, but would improve as the tournament progressed and would finish with 5 wins from the last 7. They'd also end up with the best defensive record and the leading goalie, but not the 1st overall Ben Bowns that would have been expected pre tournament. It was instead Jackson Whistle and off the back of this earned himself the starting role for the playoffs.
The decision to drop Bowns raised eyebrows, but paid off as the Panthers blanked the Blaze in the first leg which Panthers won 2-0 (first shutout for any goalie in the tournament) and he started again the next night an despite conceding a freak goal, Panthers cruised to a 4-1 win on the night an 6-1 on aggregate to setup a final series against the Steelers. Perhaps the biggest eye opener to the Panthers intentions was Coventry forward Tristin Keck. He scored in 11 straight before the playoffs, picking up 15 goals and 6 assists, but was squeezed out of the game by Panthers, failing to register a point in the semis. The Steelers were boosted coming into the playoffs as their first choice netminder came back for the playoffs having missed all but the first 10 minutes of the regular games through injury. It was again the offense that shined, edging a tight first leg vs Manchester 5-4 before blowing the Storm away with an 8-3 second leg win to finish 13-7 on aggregate.
Panthers vs Blaze
Leg 1:
Leg 2:
Steelers vs Storm
Leg 1:
Leg 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLrwapoBB7Y
In a first for UK Ice Hockey (AFAIK), this set up the first ever best of series for a championship. It was a 3 game series with matches scheduled for Saturday, Sunday & (potentially) Monday. The best offense vs the best defence, something had to give. Game 1 saw Whistle keep his starting role and also saw the return of Liam Kirk who was rest for the semi finals against Manchester. Steelers would open their account with a PP goal just 10 seconds before the end of the first period. 2nd Period would see the game to and fro from both sides to end up 3-3 going into the 3rd. A Panthers PP goal and then an empty netter would mean the game finished 5-3 and was definitely won by the defence who scored 4 of the 5 goals for Panthers. Setting up a potential decider just 24 hours later.
Game 1 Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW9tEXrhpyA
Game 2 would see another brave decision by Panthers, they'd rest Whistle and give Bowns the start. Whistle would want 2 of the goals from game 1 back, but looked solid throughout for the rest of the game. However it would pay off for Panthers. They's take an early lead within 3 minutes, picking off a poor clearance to setup a breakaway. They'd extend there lead with a PP goal in the 2nd, but gave away a penalty with only 10 seconds left in the 2nd. The Steelers would use the remaining time to full effect, scoring just as the penalty expired to give them a glimmer of hope. However a quick shot after an offensive zone win would restore Panthers 2 goal lead. There were nervous moments as the Panthers gave away a 2+2 for high sticks with 6 minute left and Steelers converted on the first of these, but with 2:04 left, the Panthers would restore the 2 goal lead followed by an empty netter at 59:20 to secure the win.
Game 2 Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC6XtwKtNA4
Perhaps there is some merit to the adage, "defence wins games, offense wins championships". Similar to Keck, Tanner Eberle was the tournament's top point scorer, registering a ridiculous 15 goals and 12 assists in the previous 14 games, but just like Keck he would be squeezed and fail to register any points in the final.
EIHL Youtube has highlights of all games (final Game 2 coming soon)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLpH6zwxhL_KXlt5AkgjFTw
Last edited:
Theokritos
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Thanks a lot!
I hear the Glasgow EIHL club is in trouble and might not be able to play in the EIHL next season?
ChaiTiefling
Registered User
Correct, although the trouble's not with the club itself. The operating co that runs their arena and the shopping centre it's attached to went under last year, the administrators are looking to offload it and their main desire seems to be to extend the centre into the arena. Glasgow's only real option is to become the owners of the arena, and that's one of several options being explored by the administrators. If that happens, they should be fine for years to come. If not, probably only going to be bad news.
Kiev the Great
Registered User
- Aug 21, 2014
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Currently drumming up support from fans and public about trying to protect the rink. Fingers crossed for the fans and the club that it's just posturing to get a good deal/quick resolution. It'd be a big blow to the EIHL and Hockey in that part of Scotland if the worst was to happen.
SoundAndFury
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In light of the whole salary discussion in the Kirk thread, I guess Hammond signing in Oberliga does mean EIHL took quite a hit financially during the whole covid thing, even compared to other European leagues that have also been affected.
HungryFrank
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- Jun 20, 2015
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SoundAndFury
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Is it really likely he wants to live in Germany all of the sudden for no apparent reason?
vancouverism
Registered User
What's wrong with living in Germany? Hannover's a great little city and the Scorpions nearly promoted to DEL2 this season. They crushed the regular season this year and there's no reason to believe they won't contend for that next season. Seems like a good situation to join as a player.
HungryFrank
Registered User
- Jun 20, 2015
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maybe he found a partner there or maybe his family wants to live there, maybe wants to continue his career in Germany, lot of things may be.
I'd wait until other players do the same.
Maritime Hockey
Registered User
Take a listen to an interview with Manchester Storm forward Cameron Critchlow recapping his 2020-2021 season.
Maritime Hockey
Registered User
I have really enjoyed following the EIHL the past few seasons, Just curious how everyone is feeling about the 2021-2022 season?
